I just noticed that in the original post it is not clear that "pedigree" is derived from "crane's foot", "grue" being an archaic word for "crane". In checking this I found a site about etymology with links to other sites"http://www.fun-with-words.com/etymology.html

"grue" being an archaic word for "crane" Is it in English?Gru is the only word for that animal in Italian even now. And also for the big building tool similar in shape to a gru.An American friend of mine was very interested in such tools in Italy, since - he said - we have even small ones - 6 meters high, for example. In America he has seen just huge cranes. I suppose that it depends on the fact that the ways of building are different, we use concrete and bricks even for small buildings, wood is tooooo expensive.

I used this word just now, and it occurred to me to look at its etymology. Turned out it is interesting:gas[ket 7gas4kit8 n.5prob. altered < Fr garcette < OFr garcete, small cord, orig., little girl, dim. of garce, fem. of gars, boy < ML *warkjone < Frank *wrakjo, mercenary soldier; akin to OE wrecca, WRETCH6 1 a piece or ring of rubber, metal, paper, etc. placed at a joint to make it leakproof 2 Naut. a length of rope or canvas for securing a furled sail to a yard or boom blow a gasket [Slang] to become enraged

Hope this comes out OK; it is the 1st time I have tried using this or any other bulletin board!Following your lead, I looked at "gasket" in my OED and thought the following was interesting. The first quoted nautical use was given as being in 1622 "R Hawkins: Voy.S.Sea - His sayles repayred and sufficiently prevented with martnets blayles and caskettes". By 1630 J Taylor in his Navy Landships (whatever they were - any ideas??) is using the modern form, "Her gaskets, martlines, cables", and all subsequent references given use this modern form "gasket".The first "plumbing" use of the word is given as 1829 in a text book on steam engines.An adjacent entry for the word "Gaskin" shows two meanings, one of which is an item of clothing - breech or hose - or the hinder thigh of a horse, while the second is given as an alteration of gasket and is shown as being applied in the 19th century in place of gasket in both the nautical and plumbing fields.Incidentally, I am fascinated as to why the spell checker does not recognise "nautical", the nearest it can suggest is Navajo. I would not have thought nautical was an unusual word!

dear dxb round here, the spell check (something i never use, inspite of having a great need of!) is lovingly referred to as Ænigma -- (Now you are asking yourself, how did she do that?)

Well come to the mad house. the keys to some of the madness can be found in the FAQ-- its only about 4 page if you print it out, and it's a great guide..

but it won't tell you how to do a Æ ! for that, you must find one of Max Q's post, and at the end of any one of them, there is a link to his web page, which has pages and pages.. of neat tricks, complete with illustrations! they have been compiled from various user questions,-- and it save time-- you can learn the tricks at your own speed!

getting back to gasket, very many plumbing term got their start at sea.. sailors had to learn how to deal with leaking water long before we brought pipes filled with water into the house. as for why is is related to the word for a hind leg of horse.. well we will have fun exploring!

being a city gal, i know almost nothing about horses.. but we have some equestrian on board.. maybe they will know.

Post edit-- I took to long forming an answer! there is one of Max's Post right above..!

Thank you for the kind welcome. I shall certainly print out the FAQ info' and endeavour to ascertain how diphthongs are achieved! Having tried the spell checker again on this message I am still bemused. It is plainly intended to provoke. Jeff’s suggestion is practical (see Info’ and Announcements – Postings editor hint), and I have used it, but I think I shall still look to see what whimsical suggestions come from the AWAD spell checker. (A spell checker – particularly a whimsical one - really belongs in a Harry Potter book).

On a different subject, not truly etymology, but I don’t know how to, or if you can, link from theme to theme, I have just spent a long weekend in Saudi Arabia and an Indian colleague there had received from an American lady a number of facetious (maybe?) instructions for men on women’s “keywords”. I wont copy it here as it could cause umbrage to be taken – although it is expressed as a woman’s eye view – but it led me to ask him whether the thing translated well into his native language (he tells me there are 26 official languages in India – perhaps there’s hope for us Europeans after all!) in a way that made sense and was still humourous. Apparently it did for the most part – I guess people are much the same the world over. I wonder about examples of humour going wrong due to cultural differences and idiom – Kennedy’s famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” springs to mind. I would be interested to hear if anyone has any other examples or stories?

glad you came back..about I wonder about examples of humour going wrong due to cultural differences and idiom – Kennedy’s famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” springs to mind.

long, long ago, we covered something on this, but with so many new people, I am sure we will have many more..

the one i contributed early in my efforts, was about an italian cousins (by marriage) who never quite got english idioms, and was always, almost right...

like the time she announced " So & So,(fill in a name) is knocked up!" since the young lady in question was a happily married woman, it was a cause for amusement. she hadn't quite caught on, "being knocked up" was a bad thing..(at least to an unmarried girl in the 1950's) "expecting a first child" was a good thing to a young newly wed wife...

and please don't hold out...re:a number of facetious (maybe?) instructions for men on women’s “keywords”. we already have a thread going along that theme in Misc! (or is it word play?) add your collection!

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